But Ty reflected on how often the drive-spines were failing, and how many of them would need replacing before they reached the end of their journey. They were making long and frequent jumps that would take the Mjollnir a lot further and faster than it had needed to go on its maiden superluminal flight. At the rate they were going, they would end up having to cannibalize the ship itself for the necessary raw materials.

Nancy was in an ebullient mood once they got back inside.

‘C’mon, Nathan, come back up to the centrifuge with us. You can’t hide away from the rest of us for ever.’

Ty stowed his helmet on a rack in the changing room and climbed out of his pressure suit, wrinkling his nose at the smell of his own stale sweat. He twisted his head around in a slow circle, hearing the crunch of tired muscles as he locked his hands together behind his head and stretched a little.

‘Maybe,’ he replied. But Nancy understood that maybe within the context of their developing relationship really meant definitely.

Ty glanced at Olivarri, who was pretending not to listen. He had no idea what the other man might report to Corso, though perhaps it was better to play safe. ‘But not this time,’ he added, for Olivarri’s sake. ‘Maybe next time.’

‘What next time?’ Nancy jeered, smacking him in the chest with a glove she had removed before tossing it into a bin below the helmet rack. She was grinning, but Ty recognized the uncertainty in her smile.

‘Soon,’ he mouthed at her, then glanced again at Olivarri to make sure he hadn’t noticed. He would sneak up to Nancy’s quarters only when he thought he was less likely to run into anyone else.

‘Shower!’ Olivarri shouted, pushing away from them and heading towards the washing facilities. ‘I need a fucking shower.’

With a thin, permeable mask covering his nose and mouth, Ty groaned with pleasure as needle-thin jets of hot water washed away the tension that had gathered between his shoulders. The water shut off after two minutes, and was rapidly vacuumed out of the sealed shower cubicle while he leaned against its door.

He looked down at where his skin was red and chafed from wearing a pressure suit for hours at a time. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was stars scattered across the void like diamond dust.

Ty glanced down at the ring he still wore on his right hand, as the cubicle door clicked open. That encounter with the avatar back in Unity felt more and more surreal, the further the Mjollnir got from home, and yet the ring was always there to remind him he hadn’t just imagined it.